One Moment
by DarkandtwistyGirl
Summary: Set in Season 1, post Asylum. A slippery road, that was all it took for the Winchester boys lives to be forever changed. Major hurt!Sam *Complete*
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing that has anything to do with Supernatural or the characters, unless you count the DVDs. This is just for fun.**_

_**Hello all, new fic time again. I've been wanting to do a fic where Dean is put into a situation where he has to care for his brother for a while now, I've also wanted to look into John's side of the family, because while they aren't in the story, unlike Mary's family, there's no indication in the show as to what has happened to them and where they are, so here's to killing two birds with one stone.**_

**_Enjoy._**

* * *

**Chapter 1**

It was just before two in the morning, and Sam and Dean Winchester had just finished up a job in Deer Trail, a remote small town in Colorado, they were heading out of town, heading south on interstate 70.

One moment, that was all it took.

Ironically given their location it was a deer that caused it. There had been a deer was standing in the middle of the road, and Dean, thinking that he was preventing damage to his precious car, swerved violently, but it had been raining for days, and so the road was slippery, too slippery.

Dean was despite his best efforts, unable to stop the car as it went into a spin, then flipped on to its roof, it then came to a violent halt as the passenger side was slammed into an old oak tree, more than thirty feet from where the tragedy had begun up on the road.

* * *

Both brothers had been rendered unconscious by the impact, but unlike his brother Dean came around within minutes.

The car was totalled, completely crushed to the point that Dean couldn't even shift, his legs and right arm were pinned by the steering wheel, his side window, along with the windscreen had shattered, and there was broken glass everywhere, and so cuts littered Dean's exposed skin.

Everything hurt, all Dean could register was the pain, which was not at all helped by the fact that he was upside down and had been for some time now. It would be a lot longer though before help arrived.

It was the worst time of Dean's life, being trapped, hurt, and having no idea if his brother, who was only inches away, was even alive.

* * *

It was nearly seven thirty in the morning before another car came along the road, the weather had cleared, and it was unmistakable that something terrible had happened there. The road was in a scene of disaster, there were fresh tire marks on the road, the Armco fencing at the edge of the road had been broken, and there was a path of destruction leading in to the dense shrubbery from the road.

The driver was Frank Reid, a forty-eight year old husband and father who ran a local plumbing business, before he even left his van he called 911, and called for an ambulance, the nearest station was in Denver, half an hour's drive away, and he knew from experience that it was better to call and be wrong than have to wait even longer for assistance.

* * *

Once he knew that help was on the way, Frank left his van parked on the roadside, and he quickly made his way through to the wrecked car.

"Holy mother of god," Frank murmured in horror, putting his hand to his mouth, he was certain that no one could have survived this.

But he was wrong. Dean Winchester was alive and conscious, though panicked, and his younger brother, Sam was also alive, though on the verge of slipping away, he was barely breathing, unconscious, and had lost much blood.

* * *

Dean had heard the man approach, and using energy he didn't have, he called out for help.

Frank could have been knocked over with a feather when he heard signs of life from within the crumpled vehicle, but he forced himself to get his act together through self talk, and went to work. Frank went to the driver side of the car, there was no way he could see to access the passenger side, and he knelt down to see into the car, he had to bend down very low to the ground before he could finally see the elder Winchester.

Dean's head was turned to the left, so he came face to face with their rescuer. There was no mistaking the relief in his voice as he said, "Oh thank god. Damn it's good to see someone."

"Are you hurt, mister?" Frank asked uncertainly, it wasn't as though there was a handbook on this sort of thing.

"Think so," Dean said as he tried to regain his strength enough to speak for longer, "Pretty stuck in here I reckon."

"Looks like. Help's on the way, they'll be here soon. What's your name buddy? I'm Frank."

"Dean. Please, my brother is in the passenger seat, but I can't get to him, check on him."  
"Of course, what's his name?"

"Sam."

Frank attempted to reach Sam from several directions, but the best he could do to get glimpses of skin and clothing amongst the crumpled metal, the right side of the car had been entirely crushed by the impact, it was wrapped around the tree. Frank was sure that Sam was dead, there was no way he could have survived, was there? But he knew better than to say that to the guy's brother. Frank opted to sit with Dean, and to reassure him as best he could for the twenty-five long minutes before an ambulance's siren resounded through the area.

* * *

It was quarter past two before the Winchester boys were extricated from the wreckage, three in the afternoon before they reached the hospital. That was over twelve hours since the accident.

Dean had broken both his legs and his right arm, and had a hairline skull fracture and concussion; he had gotten off lightly compared to his younger brother.

Sam, who at first the rescue workers had thought was dead, had been much more severely injured. When the doctor went to speak with Dean about his brother's condition, he had only told him that his brother had suffered "very serious injuries, which currently threaten his life". And that was true, Sam had lost more than half his blood volume, suffered major head trauma, an intracranial haemorrhage, which they wouldn't know if and how badly had affected his brain function until he woke up, if he woke up, and he had also broken two veretebrae in his neck, which had led to damage to his spinal cord, and that was just the tip of the iceberg. Maybe it would have been better if he had of died.

* * *

Dean had surgery on his broken limbs, and it was another four hours before he could be informed of his brother's condition.

As soon as Dean was awake from the anaesthetic, the first words out of his mouth were, "Where's Sam?"

* * *

Carly Grayson, a young enrolled nurse who had been assigned to Dean's care had been in with him when he regained consciousness. She had been briefed on the grave condition of her patient's brother, and when he asked, she felt obligated to deliver the devastating news. Carly was quiet as she pulled a seat over, and sat down next to Dean's bed, only once she was seated did she speak, "Dean, hi I'm Carly, I've been taking care of you. You've just come out of surgery, everything went very well."

"Where's Sam?" Dean asked insistently, he didn't care about himself, he wanted to know that his brother was alright.

"Dean, what do you remember?" Carly was taking it slowly, trying to break the news as gently as she could.

Honestly the last thing Dean remembered was leaving the motel the afternoon before the accident, and that's what he told her before again asking, "Where's Sam?"

"You were in a car accident, Dean, you and your brother," Carly hesitated, she noticed that Dean's heart rate was climbing, maybe she should leave this up to the doctors, someone with more experience.

"Please? What's happened to Sam?"

"I'm sorry," Carly said gently, in preparation to tell Dean of the extent of Sam's injuries, but Dean took it the wrong way.

"He's dead? No way, no way, he can't be dead, he just can't be dead!"

"No, Dean, your brother is alive. He was severely injured in the accident."

"What do you mean? Where's my brother?"

"Dean, your brother is still in surgery. I'm sorry, I don't know much, but... Dean, it's bad, very bad."

In that moment Dean's life was changed more than he thought possible.

* * *

The next day Dean, who was sporting full leg casts on both legs and a small cast on his right wrist, which of course came with a complementary wheelchair for his non-optional use, was permitted to visit his younger brother in the intensive care unit.

Dean had already spoken with Dr Wesley Moore, the intensivist charged with Sam's care, and the older doctor hadn't sugar coated it. Sam was in a medically induced coma, he had numerous fractures and contusions, but it was the internal injuries which threatened his life, he had suffered a major bleed within his brain, which by the time he reached the hospital and the blood which the doctors drained had already caused his brain to swell, and with nowhere for it to go, the neurosurgeon had done everything he could, but there was no chance that Sam would make a meaningful neurological recover, it was a similar story with the fractured vertebrae in Sam's cervical spine, they had been repaired, but irreparable damage had already been done to the spinal cord, he also had a collapsed lung, which the doctors were apparently expecting to heal without any problems. But in all likelihood from what the intensivist had told Dean, Sam was never going to regain consciousness, the term that was used to the distaste of most, but was true was a persistent vegetative state, that he would need full time care, and that was if he survived the coming days, which were still uncertain.

The doctor had gone as far as to suggest that it may be for the best for Dean to consider placing Sam in to a long term nursing care unit.

There was no way in hell that Dean was going to place Sam, his baby brother, the kid that he had pretty much raised, into some nursing home, no way, that was not going to happen.

Sam was on a ventilator, a machine which took over the function of his lungs, a life support measure which hopefully in time he wouldn't need, but for now he would die without.

Dean had never foreseen this, who would have? Who would have so much as had a passing thought that at age twenty-six they would be suddenly faced with a reality that he would be his formerly healthy, smart, active, now quadriplegic and profoundly brain damaged brother's caregiver for most likely until the day one of them died? Simple, no one, no one would ever have seen it coming.

But there was nothing he could do to change it now, as much as he wished that he could go back to that night, and have just stayed at the motel another night, to not have been on that road, he couldn't, they couldn't go back to how things were.

* * *

Dean and Sam had still been on awkward terms when the accident occurred, following the incident at Rockford Asylum just weeks earlier, some of the things had Sam had said, even though he claimed they weren't his true opinions had still struck a nerve, and Dean couldn't quite let that go. And as Dean was wheeled in to the room which was currently home to his brother, and he saw his little brother lying in that bed, comatose, having come way too close to death for comfort, all he could think of was how frosty things had been since Rockford. That couldn't be the last meaningful time Dean had with his brother, it just couldn't be. Dean needed to tell Sam how sorry he was, how much of a stubborn idiot he had been, he needed his brother to forgive him.

He would never have the chance.

* * *

Dean sent away the nurse whom had brought him in, having her leave him near the doorway. Dean struggled, not just physically to go to his brother's side, seeing him lying there, knowing that the life his brother had had was gone, that his brother who was going to be a lawyer, now because of him was going to spend out his days not even able to feed himself. If he had of just stayed away from Sam, if he'd never gone to Stanford, his brother would have gotten a scholarship, and he would be halfway through his first year of his law degree, living with Jess, happy, not lying in a hospital bed with no chance of recovering to any meaningful level.

"Sam," Dean sighed sadly, finally starting to move his wheelchair forward. That was his brother in that bed, and no matter how hard it may be for Dean, he was going to do whatever he needed to so that Sam was alright, it had always his responsibility to care for him, and that was what he was going to do.

* * *

_**How was that? Would you like to read more?**_

**_Drop me a review, let me know what you thought of the start of this fic! And as always any suggestions or constructive criticism is appreciated._**


	2. Chapter 2

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing that has anything to do with Supernatural or the characters, unless you count the DVDs. This is just for fun.**_

_**Thanks for all the great reviews!**_

**_Enjoy!_**

* * *

**Chapter 2**

There was no ways knowing that Dean would dump his brother in some nursing home, no way, not happening. As soon as Dean was out of the hospital he started making arrangements, trying to figure everything out.

They needed a place to stay, there was no way that they could be staying in motel rooms, from what the medical staff had told Dean, there would be a large volume of medical equipment needed, and

Where do you go when you know that your life as you knew it is over? You go home, you go back to the place you felt safe, where your parents cared for you, where everything was alright.

Granted, Lawrence didn't hold just good memories for Dean, the opposite in fact, but it felt like the right choice. Their father was still MIA, the only family they had lived in Lawrence, and Dean knew that as much as he loved his brother, even though he would do anything for him, he couldn't do this alone.

Dean was sitting in his motel room, searching through phone books and records for details of his extended family, family he was only connected to by blood. He had started out with the intention of finding support for him and Sam, but it turned in to much more.

Dean found out through a series of phone calls that no one on his mother's side of the family was alive, they had apparently died in a number of unrelated accidents, but Dean saw through that, they had been murdered, but he didn't know why, and right now he needed to focus on his brother. On his father's side though. John Winchester's parents, Cecilia and Fredrick Winchester were still living in Lawrence, as were their four other children, John's siblings, Grace, Phillip, Eleanor, and Ray, all of whom were married with children.

Dean had gotten phone numbers for the family he hadn't known he had from directory assistance, and after more than a few minutes of hesitation he picked up his cell phone, and punched in the first number, the number for his grandparents.

Dean was visibly shaking as he listened to the phone ringing, the last time he had seen these people was when he was four years old. In the back of his mind Dean couldn't help but wonder whether they would actually care enough about them to help.

An elderly woman answered the phone, his grandmother. "Hello?"

Dean gulped nervously, he couldn't get the words out.

"Hello??" Cecilia repeated. "Who is this?"

"...It's Dean," Dean said uncertainly, he was very tempted just to hang up, but that wouldn't help anything.

"Dean who?"

"Dean Winchester."

There was a harsh intake of breath heard through the phone. Cecilia Winchester and her family had lost contact with her eldest son and his children just months after the fire that had killed his wife, and now here was her grandson on the phone. "Oh my... Dean. We thought..." She had so many questions, but they had to wait.

"I'm in Denver, Sam too. I need help, we need help."

"I don't know where to, we didn't even know if you boys were alive," Cecilia murmured in shock.

Dean felt for this woman, his grandmother, it must be a shock, but he needed to get back to the hospital, back to Sam, so he had to speed this along. "Listen, I can't believe this either, but I need help, and I've got no one else, so please, I'm saying please, we were in a car accident a few days ago, Sam's hurt, really hurt, and I need help."

Needless to say Cecilia's maternal instinct kicked in hearing those words. "Whatever you need," Cecilia paused as she heard her husband come downstairs to see who she was speaking to.

Dean could hear a muffled conversation, which went on for quite some time before another voice came over the line.

"Dean, this is... this is your grandfather, Fred. It's been a long time, you probably don't even remember me. Cissi and I have talked, and we want to do whatever we can. Would it be best if we came up to meet you?"

"I guess so. Look, no offence but I've got to get going, I've left Sam at the hospital, and I need to get back there. I can give you the address of the motel I'm at, and I can meet you there whenever."

"Alrighty, Cissi said you were in Denver, it will probably take a day or so to get up there. Will you be alright until then son?"

Dean was given pause when this man, a nearly perfect stranger to him referred to him as a relation. "...That's fine. You gotta a pen ready, I've got the address for here."

"Go ahead."

"'kay. It's Westside Lodge, 1659 Peoria street, Aurora, Denver. And if you need to call, my cell number is 866-907-3235."

"Okay, got it. I suppose we can just give you a call when we arrive in town?"

"Whatever works for you. Sorry, look I've really got to go."

"Oh of course, yes, go on. We will call you. Take care."

Dean took the phone away from his ear, and he ended the call, then he just sat there, he was still shaking. He had just spoken to his grandparents for the first time in twenty two years, and he couldn't stop shaking, his life was going to change, it was changing, his brother was still in an induced coma, and he most likely would be for at least another couple of days, their grandparents were coming, when they arrived Dean still intended to ask for their support in caring for Sam when he was discharged from the hospital, and he still despite dozens of messages left on his father's cell had heard nothing from his missing parent, at least they knew he was alive, probably.

* * *

Luckily for Dean the social worker at the hospital had found him an accessible room at a motel adjacent to the hospital grounds, and as Dean's car was wrecked, a fact that hadn't truly hit him yet, and even if it was running there was no way he would be able to drive, it was an ideal position as Dean was able to wheel himself across to the hospital, where he would stay until he couldn't.

Dean was spending every waking hour at his brother's side.

Sam didn't even know.

* * *

John Winchester had disappeared off the face of the earth when five months earlier he had finally after twenty two years found a lead on what had brutally murdered his wife, it was a demon, and John was more focused than ever on hunting down the son of a bitch, and killing it, avenging Mary's death, getting revenge for the pain this thing had caused his family.

Each time Dean would leave a message on his phone, John justified not responding as a necessity to keep his boys safe, but when after having had his phone off for days, he switched it on to find that there were forty one messages, he hadn't even known that it could hold that many, his heart began to pound, something was wrong, something had to be very wrong.

He sat on the edge of the motel bed as he listened to the first message, he stayed there until he had heard every message, though they were much the same, only increasing in urgency with each message. John was in shock.

There had been an accident, his boys had been hurt.

John was in two minds after having heard the messages.

As a father he nearly bolted out the door, but as a hunter, a hunter who was going after something so big it placed everyone around him in danger, especially his boys. By no means was it an easy call.

After much deliberation, John decided that at very least he had to return his eldest son's call.

* * *

Dean had been down in the hospital cafeteria, grabbing some lunch while Sam was having yet another scan, when his cell phone rang. He glanced at the caller ID as he answered the phone, and he nearly collapsed in relief to see that it was his father calling, he answered the call sheerly with a sigh of relief, "Dad, damn it's good to hear from you. Things have been bad."

"I know son, I got your messages. Where abouts are you? How's Sam?"

"Denver, University of Colorado Hospital. It's bad, Dad," Dean began, in the messages he had only said that Sam was hurt badly, it wasn't the sort of news you could leave in message bank.

"How bad are you talking, Dean? Concussion? Broken arm? Internal bleeding? What?"

Dean was silent for a long time, before he sadly told his father of their injuries, "I've busted both my legs and my wrist, and got a skull fracture, concussion. But Dad, Sammy he's, he's in the ICU, Dad, they don't think he's going to come through this, they're saying he's got brain damage and he'll be paralysed, they've got him in a coma."

There was dead silence.

After a moment Dean looked at the phone's screen, John had hung up.

"Son of a bitch," Dean cursed in frustration. How could his father just hang up, just turn his back on them?

* * *

But John hadn't turned his back on his sons, as Dean discovered the next morning. Dean had been sitting with Sam, absentmindedly reminiscing of their childhood, telling Sam a constant stream of stories, otherwise he would have to start thinking about the present, about the fact that the brother he knew was gone.

John had left the motel he had been at in a big hurry, and had driven through the night to reach his sons.

And upon arriving in Denver, John had wasted no time in going to the hospital, and then there he was, standing in the doorway of the ICU room that housed his youngest.

He muttered more than a few words at the sight of Sam, he looked quite frankly like he was dead, if it wasn't for the steady machine generated rise and fall of his chest, and the heart rhythm showing on the monitor, John, well as was mentioned before, he thought that he could have been dead. Sam's right arm was in a cast from his fingertips to his armpit, John could also see a piece of metal which was clearly a part of the cast, which went from about the elbow point of the cast, towards Sam's body, assumingly to another piece. There were tubes in all directions, including to his horror, drainage tubes running from Sam's chest and head, another line which ran from Sam's head, somewhere under the thick white gauze dressing which encircled his head, up to a monitor which John couldn't make sense of and had never seen before. And the visible areas of Sam's face were black and blue with bruises and littered with cuts, some sutured, some just held closed by steri-strips, John could only imagine what the rest of Sam's body, what was being covered by blankets must look like.

They'd all gotten busted up on hunts from time to time, but this was easily worse than the worst.

Dean must have heard him approaching, because he had stopped speaking, and had then turned in his wheelchair to come face to face with his father.

There was an awkward silence, only broken by the steady beep of monitors.

It was John who broke the silence, "Can I come in?" It was a rare show of consideration on the part of the Winchester patriarch.

"Yeah, 'course."

* * *

As Sam and Dean's grandparents drove towards Denver, they couldn't help but to pause when Cecilia called the hospital to enquire about Sam's condition, only to find out that there was no Samuel Winchester listed as a patient, and that there was however a Samuel Deacon, everything the receptionist would tell them over the phone had made it clear to them that this was their Sam, same date of birth, same injuries, next of kin listed as a Dean Deacon.

Surely, they thought, there had to be a perfectly reasonable explanation, but then again, what did they really know about the happenings of their son and grandsons since they had seen them last, and the police had never been able to find the "Winchesters", maybe they had changed their names.

They agreed that the only thing to do was to ask Dean when they got there.

* * *

Dean must have forgotten to mention that his grandparents, his father's parents, people they hadn't seen in years were coming, because when they arrived at the hospital, when they walked into Sam's hospital room, when John saw them, the look on John's face clearly betrayed everything he was feeling, there were more emotions for him, seeing his parents than words can do justice.

Grandma and Grandpa Winchester were oblivious to the tension that ran as an undercurrent in the room between father and son. Cecilia went straight to her son, and she embraced him tightly, lovingly. "Johnny."

Once Cecilia had let her son out of her embrace, Fred took his turn to shake his son's hand, and greet him. They had so much they wanted to ask, but this wasn't the place.

The family moment ended quickly, and the tone in the room turned sombre as the group's attention was turned to Sam.

The last time Cissi and Fred Winchester had seen their grandsons, Dean and Sam, they had been four years old and eight months old respectively, and now they were, well, they were all grown up, and hurt.

John had broken off all contact with everyone but his sons after he left Lawrence all those years ago, so of course his parents were oblivious to what he had been doing in the past years, to the things he had seen and done.

* * *

_**TBC...**_

_**How was that?**_

**_Drop me a review, let me know what you thought! And as always any suggestions or constructive criticism is appreciated._**


	3. Chapter 3

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing that has anything to do with Supernatural or the characters, unless you count the DVDs. This is just for fun.**_

_**Thanks for all the great reviews! Sorry for the delay, I couldn't figure out hows to continue the story, and isn't it better to wait a while than to read a crap story.**_

**_Enjoy!_**

* * *

**Chapter 3**

It was inevitable that soon John and Dean were sitting in the cafeteria, opposite the senior Winchesters, Fred and Cecilia hadn't yet told them that they were aware of their aliases, but they were, and they were going to find out why.

Dean and John knew they couldn't reveal hunting to the couple, and they did what they had to get out of what could have been a sticky situation. It may have been his parents, but John couldn't have cared less as he spun off a very convincing series of lies, which to the oblivious elderly couple made sense.

* * *

Late that night, John woke from his light sleep, Dean was still sound asleep in the next bed. John quickly dressed, and he retrieved his bag from beside his bed, he loved his boys, but he rationalised leaving as protecting them from the demon, but in reality he just couldn't cope with seeing his baby boy lying in that hospital bed with no chance of recovering.

John would never return, and Dean would never forgive him for leaving them when Sam needed him, when he needed him.

* * *

Unfortunately Sam's condition did not improve, as the doctors had warned Dean would most likely be the case, and two weeks after the accident their fears were confirmed, Sam was brain dead.

Dean had been in the room, as always refusing to leave when they performed an apnea test, seeing if without the ventilator Sam's brain would trigger his body to breathe, they waited with baited breath for five long minutes before Dr Moore ended the test, Sam never took a breath.

Dean knew what this meant, and he was distraught, "Please, please just give him another minute, he'll breathe, please, give him a chance, he has to breathe, he can't be gone."

"I'm very sorry, Dean, but Sam's EEG and this test confirm that Sam's brain is no longer functioning even at the most basic level."

"There has to be something, please, please you have to help him, he has to breathe."

"I'm sorry, Dean, but Sam is gone. The earlier scans led us to believe that his brain injury wasn't as severe as we can now see it is, his respiratory system has fully recovered from the accident, it would function without any problems, but it appears that his brain is unable to tell his body to breathe. Dean, that indicates that Sam is brain dead. You may wish to think about whether or not to continue the life supportive measures."

* * *

Needless to say Dean did not take the news well; he had wheeled himself from the room, and gone back to Sam's side, where, once he was out of sight of everyone except his brother, Dean broke down. Dean had been trying so hard to hold things together as best he could when his world was crumbling around him.

It was too much. How could the doctor even suggest that Dean should turn off the life support, that he should in essence kill his baby brother? There was no way Dean could ever do that, even if the doctors told him that Sam was gone, and that was still an if, Dean would look after his brother no matter what.

But the news wasn't as bad as it could have been, there was still some activity in Sam's brain, more than the doctor had feared, the doctor had distastefully described it to Dean as a battery that was nearly dead, only offering brief spurts of activity.

That thought horrified Dean, what the doctor was trying to express was that if Dean made the choice to continue his brother's life, he would only truly be keeping Sam's body alive, his mind was already gone according to the doctor, but the doctor didn't know the things Dean knew.

Dean had already starting searching his father's journal, which Dean had asked his grandparents to retrieve, chancing that they might take a look at it, to him it was a risk worth taking, and making calls to his father's contacts in search of someone, anyone who might be able to help Sam, who might be able to give Dean his brother back. So far he hadn't had any luck, but this was his brother, and Dean was not going to rest until he had found something, and if that meant that he would be caring for his brother for years to come, so be it.

"I'll get you through this, Sammy, I'll get you through this," Dean fervently told his comatose brother, and as he spoke, Dean could have sworn he felt his brother squeeze his hand.

* * *

Dean would barely leave Sam's side after that day, the more time passed, seemingly the less attention the hospital staff paid to Sam's care, of course he was being properly cared for, but they were only keeping him alive, no longer trying whatsoever to rehabilitate Sam. Dean needed to be with his brother, just in case, he just had to. Dean still felt guilt over the accident, though it was just that, an accident, he kept going over the accident in his mind, seeing the deer standing in the middle of the wet, slippery road, swerving to avoid the deer, trying to stop the car, the car spinning, slamming into the guardrail, flying through the air, landing upside down, hitting that tree, hearing his brother moaning, thinking that they were both going to die. Maybe, Dean used that word many times in the months after the accident, maybe he could done this, or that, anything other than what he did, maybe if he never had of swerved, maybe he could have saved Sam.

One late afternoon, nearly three months after the accident, Cecilia came in to visit; she and her husband had gone back to their home in Lawrence several weeks earlier, to start making arrangements for Sam to leave the hospital.

Cecilia placed a gentle hand on her grandson's shoulder as she greeted him, "Dean, how are you dear?"

Dean turned his attention away from his brother, to his grandmother, "Fine."

Cecilia sat herself lightly on the end of the hospital bed, so she was facing Dean. They exchanged polite discussion for some time before Cecilia moved on to a more important topic. "Does Dr Moore still intend to discharge Sam next week?"

"Yeah, that's the plan. Is whatever you're organising in Lawrence for Sam done? If it's not... I know you have a life, and if you want out, I can work something out..." Dean began to ramble, he was struggling to accept help from his family, for years he had only been able to depend on himself, and now... He was struggling.

"Everything is ready, waiting for Sam. Ray and Meredith, that's his wife, they have a couple of rooms all set up at their house for you boys, their kids have all grown up and moved out, so they have plenty of room, and they are more than happy to help. You know that if your grandfather and I could have taken you and Sam in, we would have, but our unit is much, much too small, I think you'll like Ray's home, and it's got a downstairs study that they've converted for Sam's room, you can see out to the hills from the window, and in the morning the sun in there is so nice."

"Are you sure that we're not going to get in the way? Honestly if it's any trouble, then I can figure something else out, maybe it would just be better if I looked for somewhere else for us to stay."

Dean had never truly known what it was to be part of a family, he had been ripped from normality at such a young age, and growing up all he had seen was evil, pain, suffering, there was no love, he remembered his birthdays and Christmas' not for presents and cakes and family gatherings, but rather for being out of school for the day to go on a hunt, patching up his father, again, waking up in a motel room that in a week would be forgotten. It was going to take him some time to adjust.

* * *

Speaking of taking time to adjust, in contrast Meredith Winchester and her husband Ray had taken the change in their stride, for years Ray's brother and his sons had been missing, they hadn't even known if they were still alive, and then Cecilia called several months ago, telling them that she and Fred were with the boys in Denver. They hadn't hesitated to offer up the spare space they had at their house, Sam and Dean were their children's cousins, and though they had not seen them in years, they were family, and Meredith and Ray, honestly the whole Winchester clan believed that family means taking care of each other, being there no matter how bad things seem.

Meredith worked as a receptionist at Lawrence Real Estate, while Ray was in the same position he had been for eighteen years, working as a foreman for AAA+ Construction.

The large downstairs study of their family home had been converted into an almost hospital like room, the desk and two bookshelves had been shifted against one wall, while the arm chair and TV that stood in a corner were left, a hospital bed along with assorted medical equipment had been delivered, and arranged in the room, Meredith was placing the final touches on the room, making the bed, placing a new set of pyjamas on the foot of the bed, and arranging a vase of yellow daffodils from their garden for the side table, when Ray came home from work.

"Meredith, honey I'm home."

"I'm in the study," Meredith called out in response to her husband as she worked.

Ray walked into the study, to his wife, and he kissed her lightly before he said, "It's looking great in here, honey, you've done so much work, you should take a break, the boys won't be here til tomorrow afternoon."

"I know, Ray, but I just want everything to be right. I still have to make the bed upstairs, clean the bathrooms, and get the last of Joel's clothes out of the wardrobe, and I was thinking of making a batch of blueberry muffins for afternoon tea."

"You work too hard," Ray said in response, but in truth he was grateful, he was nervous as anything about the arrival of his nephews, and he knew that his wife felt the same, but in a good way, though the idea of having someone so severely disabled living with them was hard to fathom at times.

"I just want everything to be perfect," Meredith said tiredly, as she sat down in the arm chair, before her husband gently sat on her lap.

Ray stroked her hair as he said, "I wonder what they look like these days, I always thought that Dean would take after Mary... And Sam, he was just a baby. Mom said that Sam's really tall, or at least that's what Dean said, 6'4 I think she said."

"Like Matty, he's always been a bean pole," Meredith reflected.

"We have to call the boys, tell them what is happening."  
"They've never even met Dean, or Sam, I was pregnant with Matt when they disappeared, and..." Meredith was worried that the news might upset her sons, and that was the last thing she wanted, especially during exam time, "Maybe if they could really have a relationship with Sam and Dean, but Sam... And Dean from what your mom has said, he's probably going to be pretty much focused on Sam, which of course is understandable, but..."

Their conversation went well into the night, and ended with a long phone conversation to their eldest son, who had been surprised to say the least that he had cousins who he'd never even met, one of whom had been permanently injured by a car accident, and finally that both men would be moving in with his parents the next day.

* * *

**_TBC..._**

**_Hopefully I won't keep you waiting so long this time! And please if there's anything you want to see in this story, just put it in a review, and I will endevour to make it happen._**

**_Thanks for reading._**


	4. Chapter 4

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing that has anything to do with Supernatural or the characters, unless you count the DVDs. This is just for fun.**_

_**Thanks for all the great reviews! Sorry for the delay, needless to say there has been writers block involved, on top of real life, a very bad mix let me tell you.**_

**_Enjoy!_**

* * *

**Chapter 4**

Dean's childhood had been stolen from him, he barely remembered what was life was like before the fire, all he knew was that before his mother's murder, his life had been safe and happy, then that had disappeared, he barely even remembered his grandparents, let alone the uncle and aunt that he was going to move Sam and himself in with.

The day Sam was discharged from the hospital, Dean was rocketed back into the family he barely knew, and they had no idea of what he, his brother and father had done, the things they had seen, the things they had killed.

Dr Moore had arranged for a medical transport helicopter to move Sam to Lawrence, Dean had wanted Sam to go by ground, he was petrified of flying, but Dr Moore had insisted that it wouldn't be safe to have Sam in the back of an ambulance for over eight hours, and so Dean found himself once again taking off, leaving the solid ground against his better judgement, but there was no way he would have left his brother's side. In the hour and a half that it took them to reach Lawrence, not once did Dean take his eyes off Sam.

* * *

When Dean stepped out of the helicopter on the helipad of Lawrence's only hospital, he got the surprise of his life, gathered at the far side of the landing pad were his grandparents, and all but four aunts, uncles, and cousins.

"We are so not in Kansas anymore, Sammy," Dean murmured softly to his comatose sibling as the medical staff lifted him from the helicopter.

Sam was taken straight to a waiting ambulance to go the rest of the distance to Ray and Meredith's home, where they were waiting for the boys' arrival, while Dean was left to face the crowd of relatives he for the most part didn't even remember.

There were hugs, and joyful tears, and to Dean it was a nightmare, family wasn't this, it had never been this, family never showed emotion, family just got on with life, there were no celebrations, just another night in the latest motel with his little brother, eating tinned spaghetti, having no idea where their father was, or if he was even alive.

* * *

But it wasn't all bad for Dean, after the initial emotion filled scenes, everything went back to normal for the Winchester families, they went back to their lives, and Dean was allowed some space to breathe, not that he used it.

Dean spent the first five hours after arriving at Meredith and Ray's house going over all of the equipment that had been set up for Sam, quizzing his newfound aunt and uncle on some of the details of Sam's care, and just generally driving himself mad in an effort to ensure that Sam was getting the best possible care, though in the end no matter what they would say, Dean wouldn't entrust his brother to them, nor any of the home help assistants they hired in the coming months, and so Dean became his brother's full time caregiver.

* * *

Seven weeks after Sam and Dean had moved in with their aunt and uncle, and for Dean his life was in limbo, as long as Sam lay languishing in a vegetative state, Dean could neither move forward nor backward, he was trapped.

Now, that's not to say that that Dean would ever end Sam's life to be able to return to his own, it was his brother, he couldn't, he would never..., or would he?

Dean found himself thinking as he sponge bathed Sam one morning, it was barely nine in the morning, and Dean was already exhausted, he'd spent the last two days at the hospital with Sam, who'd had yet another bladder infection due to the catheter, his fourth since he came home from the hospital, Meredith and Ray had gone to work, and just for a moment, Dean stopped, and he found himself reaching to switch off the ventilator. Sam would never know, he wouldn't feel anything, and it would be over.

That was the moment that Dean knew he had to get out of there, before he really did something he would regret, he called his uncle as he packed a bag of his clothes and whatever else he may need, knowing that Sam could not be left alone and the couple would not be home until well into the evening.

"'ello, triple A construction, this is Ray," Ray answered his work mobile on the first ring, he had not expected this though.

"Yeah, hi Ray, it's Dean. Look, I need you to come home,"

"I'm really busy today, Dean. Can't it wait?"

"I wouldn't have called you if it could. Please."

Sensing the younger man's unease, Ray agreed, "Okay, I'll be there in twenty."

Ray would come home to find Dean gone, with only a note left by Sam's bed giving any indication as to where, and even that did not say much.

_Ray and Meredith,_

_Thanks for everything, for taking care of Sam._

_I just need a break, I will come back._

_Thanks,_

_Dean_

* * *

Dean didn't drive anymore, even if he had of had a car, and that made his journey quite a bit harder, but not impossible, he was going to South Dakota, to visit a family friend and fellow hunter, Bobby Singer.

John Winchester had managed to have a falling out with nearly everyone he had ever met, including Bobby, but when John's son had called Bobby some months earlier, asking him to tow their car back to his yard following an accident, Bobby didn't hesitate, he was more worried by whether the boys were alright, something that Dean hadn't even considered when he made the call.

It still shook him to the core to look out his living room window, and see the wrecked car, thinking of John's boys, whom Bobby had known for years, knowing that they had been in that.

And the day that Dean Winchester arrived to assess the wreck, or at least that was the reason he gave, Bobby was taken aback by the state of the young man.

Dean hadn't so much as had a passing thought as to his own wellbeing since he woke up after the accident, and it showed, he was exhausted, he hadn't bothered to actually do the rehab he was prescribed after getting out of the casts, leaving him with a noticeable limp and limited use of his right arm, he barely took the time to get dressed in the mornings, he looked like hell, barely a shell of his former self.

* * *

Dean's reaction to seeing the wreck for the first time was all you would expect, to that day the car still reeked of the rather metallic smell of blood, blood which coated every visible surface within the vehicle, his brother's blood for the most part.

As soon as he saw it, Dean was doubled over, throwing up his last meal onto the dirt driveway; the car had been Dean's prized possession, and now it was wrecked beyond recognition, but that was barely even on Dean's radar, all he could think of was the accident itself. Of all things a deer, everything they had seen, and it was a deer that had forced the boys from the life, and if Dean could have just kept the car under control, he honestly thought that he could have prevented the devastating crash, but the main thing that had Dean's attention was the blood, it still seemed impossible that someone who had lost so much blood could still be alive, if you could call what Sam was alive.

* * *

All too soon for Dean's liking, he and Bobby were seated in the older man's living room, each nursing their second beer, as Bobby finally broached the subject, but not in a way that Dean had expected, by asking, "So what happened, Dean? The guy at the wrecker's yard said it was a bad accident, wet road, night and all, but seriously boy, was that all it was? Were you boys working a job? Was this one of our kind of accidents?"

"What? No, it wasn't, I don't think at least. We'd just finished a job, it was late, nearly two in the morning, Sam wanted to stay in town for the night, the roads were that bad, but... I didn't even give him a chance; there was another job, in Illinois that I wanted to check out. I came around a bend, and there was a deer standing on the road, I swerved, didn't want to ding the car," Dean laughed bitterly at the thought, "That's all I remember really, then it gets blurred, a skull fracture and concussion tend to do that, at first I couldn't even remember that day if you can believe that."

Bobby pulled of his trademark trucker cap, and ran a hand through his hair, swearing under his breath.

Once Bobby came around from his immense distress from hearing Dean's version of events, he asked, "So how is Sam? Where is he?"

"..." For a moment, when Dean hesitated, Bobby thought that maybe Sam was dead.

"He's back in Lawrence with family, he was hurt badly in the crash, the doctors say he has major brain damage, he'll never get better."

There was a long silence before Bobby cautiously said, "I think I may know someone who could help Sam, make him better."

* * *

**TBC...**

**Hopefully I'll be able to speed up with writing this fic now, I've got a few things planned for the next couple of chapters. **

**Review if you want to read more.**


	5. Chapter 5

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing that has anything to do with Supernatural or the characters, unless you count the DVDs. This is just for fun.**_

_**Thanks for all the great reviews! I'm genuinely sorry to be ending this fic, but I think I have brought it to a point where it fits. I hope everyone has enjoyed reading this story as much as I have writing it.**_

**_Enjoy!_**

* * *

**Chapter 5**

Bobby's lead panned out, and two days later Dean was heading back to Lawrence to meet up with this supposed healer, all plans for rest forgotten, if this worked then he'd have his brother back, he truly believed that this could work, that the healer would do his thing, and Sam would just wake up.

But it could never be that easy.

First the bus that Dean was on got a flat, and they had to wait on the side of the road for five hours.

Then because of the hold up with the bus he missed the planned meet up with the healer, and had to wait until the next day to rearrange a meeting, in those hours, Dean had to go back to Meredith and Ray's, back to Sam, which in itself nearly broke him, after having convinced himself that the next time he saw Sam, Sam would be alright, back to his old self, or just about to be.

And of course Meredith and Ray had questions for Dean when he returned after his abrupt disappearance, to say the least it was an interesting conversation, especially given that they had no knowledge of the hunting world, and as long as Dean could keep it that way, he would.

Lying by omission is what saved Dean. "I was stressed so I went to visit a friend of Dad's."

His story was hardly adequate for the couple, but they accepted that they barely knew him, and it wasn't their place to pry, he was already under immense stress.

* * *

The next day Dean went into town, forced to briefly leave Sam home unattended, to meet up with this contact of Bobby's, who if it panned out, Bobby thought might be able to heal Sam.

His name was Pete, Dean never found out much more than that about him, other than a few details about what he could do, as much of the touchy feely crap it sounds like, all Pete had to do was lay his hands on a person, give it a few minutes and they were healed, of course Dean was sceptical, but he was also desperate, and for the first time since the accident he had a shred of hope that he would get his brother back; he had to take the chance.

* * *

Dean took Pete back to the family home, and led him into Sam's room. "Are you sure about this?" Dean asked, a hint of nervousness in his voice, the last thing he wanted was to risk inflicting any more pain on his baby brother.

Pete simply nodded as he knelt down beside Sam's bed, he placed his hands on Sam's arm, and began to chant in Latin. Dean couldn't help but take a step back as an ethereal glow enveloped Sam's body.

But then at the worst possible moment, Dean heard the front door slam open, Pete heard it too, and it broke his concentration, the light disappeared, and Pete sat back on his heels.

"What happened? Please, don't stop!"

"I can't. What was that? I thought you said we wouldn't be interrupted."

"Someone must be home. Are you sure you can't-"

"Very, I'm sorry," Pete said before slipping out of the room, and the house otherwise unseen.

Shame they were interrupted, maybe if they hadn't been then Sam would have been fully healed, but as it was, he was not. But that's not to say that it didn't help, shortly after the seemingly failed healing, Dean was sitting at Sam's bedside when he noticed Sam shift slightly in the bed, the way someone would in their sleep.

"Sammy?" Dean was instantly alert, and out of his chair, to hover over Sam.

* * *

Minutes passed, and nothing further happened, but then just as Dean was giving up hope, Sam's eyelids opened.

"Sammy?"

Sam open his mouth to speak, but the words didn't come out, they couldn't not as long as he was on the ventilator, he looked up at Dean with unfocused eyes.

"Sam? Come on man, are you with me?"

Dean could see that Sam was getting frustrated, and so he attempted to calm Sam, as he pulled his phone from his pocket and searched for the number of Sam's treating doctor, not that he knew what he was going to tell the guy, but Dean guessed that whatever was going on, Sam needed to go to the hospital to be checked out, "It's okay Sam, it's okay, calm down, you're okay, I've got you, you're okay."

Dean put the phone to his ear as it rang.

"Hello, Dr Stillman's office."

"Hey, my brother's a patient of Dr Stillman, Sam Deacon, I need to talk to the doc."

"I'm sorry, he's with a patient now, can I take your number and get the doctor to give you a call back?"

"No, I need to speak to him, now."

"Okay, I'll put you through. Just hold for a minute."

"Thanks."

* * *

Dean's conversation with the doctor was not an easy one, all Dean told him was that Sam, somehow was awake, and he asked what to do, it to anyone who didn't know the truth would have seemed to be a miracle. In short, the doctor instructed Dean to call an ambulance, and have them bring Sam into the hospital.

* * *

Just as Dean was getting off the phone, there was a knock at the door, and Ray entered the room. "What the hell?" He murmured looking at his formerly comatose nephew, who was now moving around listlessly in the bed, making more than an occasional uncoordinated grab for the tracheotomy and ventilator tubing.

In the moment, with everything happening, Dean had actually forgotten all about the front door slamming, well he hadn't, but he hadn't continued the thought chain to its reasonable conclusion that someone was home. He froze, how was he supposed to explain this? In hindsight, Dean would realise that he should have thought it over more carefully.

"Dean? Son, what is going on here?"

* * *

Dr Stillman had been stunned when he saw Sam being wheeled into the ER, awake, though not fully alert, and even after taking nearly an hour to examine Sam, he still could not fathom what had occurred, had he missed something or was this, dare he say it, a miracle?

And as for what the doctor's examination showed, Sam was breathing without the ventilator, and though he was very weak, he had regained nearly complete feeling and movement in his arms and trunk, though his legs remained lifeless and unfeeling, and where previous scans had shown massive, permanent brain damage, there was now healthy brain tissue, though as the neurologist pointed out, there were still a number of remaining let's say glitches, areas that according to a functional MRI scan were not functional.

To Dean's absolute relief, as more time passed in that first day, Sam started to come around, and Dean was right by his side, waiting not so patiently to see if his brother was actually by some miracle, healed.

* * *

Sam did wake up, two days later, but all it did was confirm Dean's fears, Sam wasn't Sam, he wasn't the same person he was before the accident. Though he stood at 6'4 and was very much an adult, the doctor's declared that mentally Sam had been left with the capacity of a three year old.

Dean cringed at the thought as he came back from getting a coffee to discover that Sam was hysterical, two nurses were in the room, trying to calm him with no success.

As soon as Sam saw Dean though, he instantly settled, though he did nearly fall out of bed trying to embrace his brother who had been across the room at the time.

"De, De! Wher'd you go? Got scared," Sam sobbed into Dean's shoulder.

"Sorry man, I'm sorry, Sammy, look, you're okay just calm down... Please," Dean pleaded with his brother, god he didn't know if he would be able to take a lifetime of this, he had prayed for Sam to be healed, and now he had been, and Dean found himself wishing that Sam was still in the coma.

* * *

Sam spent three days in the hospital before Dean got sick of all the attention his brother's mysterious recovery was causing them, and so he discharged Sam, and took him back to their aunt and uncle's house.

Sam's miraculous improvement had even made the local papers, "Local man wakes from irreversible coma", the headlines read, but that had only served to further irritate Dean when he was already under immense stress, the doctors kept pushing Dean to allow further tests and scans, consults with supposed experts, at times he wondered if the treating team really had his brother's best interests at heart, though admittedly he himself had had more than a couple of moments in recent months in which he had thought of ending the life that they were now looking at with such fascination.

But truly Dean as always at the end of the day only wanted what was best for his brother, and after he had taken Sam home, Dean returned to being Sam's caregiver, Sam's level of consciousness had changed, but sadly his care needs hadn't nearly enough.

Dean's day started out at five am, Sam's new favourite time to start the day, he would usually be disorientated, sometimes even to the extent that he would be combative. After calming Sam down came changing him, replacing the almost always soiled adult diaper with a new one, trying not to cry alongside his brother, who was aware enough to know that having to wear a diaper, and more so, having to have Dean change him, was humiliating and upsetting. Then Dean would help Sam dress, before putting him in his wheelchair, and taking him out to the verandah, where Sam would usually sit, relatively quiet, watching the world go past, while Dean got as many chores done around the house as he could, before inevitable Sam would get tired, and start calling out for Dean to take him for his sleep. Some days after Sam had rested, Dean would be given the gift of a few minutes in which Sam was lucid and aware, very rarely he could even have a conversation with his brother, a real conversation, but that would inevitably end. Then it would be time for the van to arrive to take himself and Sam to the hospital for Sam's session with the physiotherapist; though he himself hadn't attended so much as one session of rehab, Dean made sure that come hell or high water, Sam got to the rehab centre the five days a week that he was meant to, he had to keep hoping that maybe the therapists would help Sam, that maybe he would get another little bit of his brother back, though he honestly didn't know if it would do any good, or if this was as good as things would get for Sam. After rehab Sam would be tried, and it was always a struggle for Dean to make sure that Sam ate a decent sized meal before he would bathe him and put him in pyjamas, before transferring him back into his bed. And so after usually eight hours of something resembling rest, the cycle would begin again.

If possible it was more tiring than before, but Dean could cope, he could have conversation with Sam, watch a movie, even if Sam never got any better, Dean would cope, even if this was as good as things got.

* * *

_**Epilogue**_

It would be the first Thanksgiving that Dean and Sam had actually, truly celebrated, they sat at a table crowded with family, one of three, between helping Sam manage his meal, Dean was talking with one of his newfound cousins about the houses that he was looking at for himself and Sam, one just streets away from Cecilia and Fred's.

To think about it later, Dean would laugh, it still seemed odd to him that he was there, surrounded by family that if it wasn't for a tragedy he never would have known... He supposed that this was how his life would now be.

* * *

**The End.**

**Please drop me one last review, I'd love to hear peoples thoughts on this fic.**


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